Films - BURMA VJ: REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY


Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country 12A

See all showtimes for all Richmond cinemas >>

Armed with pocket-sized video cameras, a tenacious band of Burmese reporters face down death to expose the repressive regime controlling their country. In 2007, after decades of self-imposed silence, Burma became headline news across the globe when peaceful Buddhist monks led a massive rebellion. More than 100,000 people took to the streets protesting a cruel dictatorship that has held the country hostage for more than 40 years. Foreign news crews were banned, the Internet was shut down, and Burma was closed to the outside world. So how did we witness these events? Enter the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), aka the Burma VJs. Compiled from the shaky handheld footage of the DVB, acclaimed filmmaker Anders Ostergaard's Burma VJ pulls us into the heat of the moment as the VJs themselves become the target of the Burmese government. Their tactical leader, code-named Joshua, oversees operations from a safe hiding place in Thailand. Via clandestine phone calls, Joshua dispenses his posse of video warriors, who covertly film the abuses in their country, then smuggle their footage across the border into Thailand. Joshua ships the footage to Norway, where it is broadcast back to Burma and the world via satellite. Burma VJ plays like a thriller, all the more scary because it is true.

  • Director:Anders Ostergaard
  • Producer:Lise Lense-Møller
  • Writer:Jan Krogsgaard, Anders Ostergaard
  • Duration:84
  • Official Site:http://burmavjcom.title.dk/
  • Release:In Cinemas Now
  • Genre:Documentary
  • Distributor:Oscilloscope Pictures

Your sayYour Richmond

comment Add your comment

Register for a FREE Richmond and Twickenham Times account and you can have your say on today's news and sport by adding comments on articles we publish. The best comments may even get published in the paper.

Please register now or sign in below to continue.

Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country

Check local cinema listings »



NOW SHOWING IN:

Richmond CINEMAS

Local Links

Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »